


Lucille

by Miss_Eliza_Sparrow



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 12:25:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17766743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Eliza_Sparrow/pseuds/Miss_Eliza_Sparrow
Summary: "Katherine knew that Lucille was dying. She just didn't want to think about it. How could you think about your little sister's death?"





	Lucille

**Author's Note:**

> So as I was doing some research about Joseph Pulitzer, I found out that he had a daughter named, Lucille Irma Pulitzer, who died when she was seventeen from Typhoid Fever. I also found out that there was a Katherine Pulitzer. But she died when she was two. During the strike she would of been eight or nine. So in this, Katherine was 21 during the strike and is 19 in this story. Katherine was the third oldest. The birth order of the Pulitzer children in this fic: Herbert, Ralph, Katherine, Lucille, Joseph Jr., Constence, and Edith. Pulitzer's wife's name was also Katherine, but she was called Kate.
> 
> I don't own Newsies.

Lucille

Katherine knew that Lucille was dying. She just didn't want to think about it. How could you think about your little sister's death? Lucille shouldn't be dying. She had a future I front of her. Like Katherine, Lucille wanted to pursue a career. Lucille was in love. If anything, it should of been Katherine standing in her grave.

First of started when Lucille didn't eat anything at dinner. She just pocked at her food. Kate noticed this first.

"Lucille, is something wrong, honey?" Kate asked, with a mother's concern.

"I'm just not hungry, Mama," Lucille replied, "May I be excused?"

"Alright, but get some rest, darling. You look awfully pale," said Kate.

The next day, Lucille some up with a stomach cramps. She ignored it. But Katherine noticed that her sister wasn't the same.

On the second day, Kate discoverd Lucille's high fever. Lucille was stuck in bed all day. Katherine hated to see her seventeen year old sister looking so pale.

Later that day, Lucille got a headache and would not stop coughing. The entire family was getting worried.

Then the red spots appeared. Lucille's chest was covered in them. Ralph got the doctor. After getting diagnosed, Constence, Edith and Katherine surrounded their sister's bed. They could hear Kate crying in the hallway. Joseph was trying to comfort his wife. He didn't let Kate see his own tears.

It was Typhoid Fever.

But Katherine did not give up hope.

One day, Katherine some up knowing that Lucille would not live. It made her sick thinking about it. Lucille would never get married, have children or become successful in a career. She would never even get to see 1898. Lucille would never get to enjoy another Christmas or turn 18.

When Katherine went to check on Lucille, she found Lucille at her desk. She was typing very slowly in her typewriter. The typewriter had been a gift from their father. It isn't the world to Lucille.

"Hey, Lulu," Katherine whispered, "Why are you out of bed?"

"I just had to do something," Lucille replied , before breaking into a coughing fit.

Katherine sprinted over to her sister. She help Lucille into her bed. Lucille sank under the civer, too weak to move any more.

"Oh, Kat, remember all those awful articles we would write for Father?" said Lucille , smiling.

"The only had one were yours!" Katherine laughed at the memory.

"Not true!" But Lucille went into another major coughing fit.

There was nothing Katherine could do, except comfort her sister. They both knew that the pain would be over soon. But not i n the way, they would of hoped.

"Kat, I don't want Mama to be too depressed. With her miscarriage last year, she hardly got out of bed, she was so sad. And then this..." Lucille was sobbing.

"I'll make sure Mama is okay," Katherine promised.

"Thank you, Kat," she spoke in something less than a whisperwhisper, she was so weak, "I-I wanted..."

All the life left Lucille. Her eyes went dull. Her face became waxy. The band Katherine was holding became cold.

Katherine closed Lucille's eyes for the last time.

A week later the Pulitzers were going through Lucille's things. Katherine found out that day, why Lucille needed to be at her typewriter.

It was a letter. The last thing Lucille ever wrote. Katherine held it to her heart for a second. Then read it to her family.

My Dear Family,

I wish I would never have to write this letter. But people do not lie forever. So now I say my goodbyes.

Father: How I will miss you! You are the best father ever! No one could ever love me like you loved me. I know you still think of me as your little girl, but remember I grew up. I want you to be nice to my love, still. He is going through a lot of pain right now, too. I want you to have my music box. It keept nightmares away. I hope it will keep the bad dreams away from you.

Mama: You've always been there for me. I feel unbelievably guilty for leaving you. You have always been a fighter. Please keep being like that fighter. To you, I give you I give you my locket, so you can always have me by your heart.

Kat: You have been a huge part of my life. You were to one that always inspired me. You were the one that would make me laugh. Thank you for all those wonderful times. I want you to have my typewriter. I want you to write beautiful things in it for me.

There was to the letter, but that was the only part that really mattered to Katherine. Lucille had given her, the precious typewriter.

The typewriter was moved into Katherine's bedroom. She wrote countless articles on it. When Katherine didn't know what to write she heard Lucille's voice in her ear, giving her clues.

At the end of her most famous article, Newsies Stop the World, Katherine wrote,

To my dear sister, Lucille.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really proud of this.
> 
> I know this was sad, so I invite you to go on to YouTube and watch cute videos of the Newsies cast. Trust me, it helps. It is what I do and I am saf. If anyone asks why, tell them Phantom Actress made you.
> 
> What did you think Lucille was going to say? What did you think?
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
